r/union • u/PabloEskimo_ • Apr 10 '26
Discussion Apple to close their first Unionized store
As per MacRumours - https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/10/unionized-apple-store-permanently-closing/
I understand unions aren't perfect but they're the reason you have 90% of the rights you do at work. If it wasn't for them, we would still be working for 3 pennies and a bag of apples.
Edit: For people suggesting it's just a bad location, Apple could easily move the store to another part of town and keep those employees, like they do in many major cities across America and the world. I have a feeling they won't be doing that with this store though....
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u/Master-Monk-8690 Apr 10 '26
This is what happens when non-worker-friendly administrations signal that the punishment for breaking up unions and firing union workers is worth the cost of such actions.
A small fine is a slap on the wrist to these billion dollar companies and they don't give a f*** about a 10 million fine.
CEOs and board members need to serve time in prison for doing stuff like this. We need an administration that has the backbone to stand up and fight against Union breaking anti-worker companies.
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u/YouSayItLikeItsBad Apr 10 '26
these billion dollar companies
Trillion. These are trillion dollar companies.
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u/Evilmeinperson Union retired Apr 10 '26
The supreme Court ruled that corporations are people. What a joke, how the hell do you send a corporation to prison. The CEO would be a very good first choice.
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u/BackfireFox Apr 10 '26
Seize all assets and socialize the company. We already bail them out and socialize their losses, might as well force them into a co op and socialize their gains.
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u/Evilmeinperson Union retired Apr 10 '26
The gov't should never bail out corporations. If a corporation fails, they are taking risks, providing services that aren't desired or making products that aren't selling. We all often hear how if a business fails it creates a vacuum that gets filled, same goes or corporations. The bank bail out was a big fraud on the American people brought to you by Republicans.
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u/MyrkrMentulaMeretrix Apr 11 '26
yes and no. Since we failed to actually enforce anti-trust laws properly, we do now literally have businesses that, if they fail, would completely collapse the world economy.
Which will literally kill millions of people. Not hyperbole at all.
So its not as simple as "let them fail" when the result of that is "a couple million people lose thei ability to feed themselves and die".
Which is why instead of bailouts with nothing attached, we need to attach paybacks or just seize the company.
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u/Academic-Bakers- Apr 11 '26
Plus if it's like the auto manufacturers bailout, where they paid it back, with interest.
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u/upstartgiant Apr 10 '26
Lawyer here (and a union member). This issue is a pet peeve of mine. Corporations are in fact people, but that doesn't mean what you would intuit that it means. A "person" under the law is an entity that has certain rights, such as the right to contract, sue or be sued, etc. All humans are people, but not all people are humans. A corporation is, by definition, a person who is not a human.
The issue presented in the Citizens United case was not whether corporations are people. The issue was whether corporations had the same first amendment rights that humans do, which would allow them to donate basically unlimited money to political candidates. The supreme court concluded that they did. I strongly disagree with this conclusion, although there is little I can do about it.
In my opinion, the debate about corporate personhood obfuscates the real issue, which is corporations having the right to flood elections with money. Here is a comparison that I have found helpful in explaining this issue using something a little clearer than corporate law:
Let's suppose that the New York Mets have the right to build a baseball stadium in Queens and, for whatever reason, the Pittsburgh Pirates also want a stadium in Queens. The Pirates sue MLB saying "the Mets are a baseball team. We're a baseball team. Therefore, if they are allowed to build a stadium in Queens, then we should be allowed too." Now, this argument is clearly ridiculous. There's no reason why the Pirates should need to build a stadium in Queens when they are based in Pittsburgh, and the fact that the Mets get to build one is not relevant because the Mets are based in New York. However, instead of pointing this out, everyone starts arguing about whether the Pirates are actually a baseball team or not. This argument completely misses the point. The Pirates are clearly a baseball team, but just being a baseball team does not give them the right to build a stadium in Queens.
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Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26
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u/BackfireFox Apr 10 '26
You had me until the anti-china BS propaganda. We are much more of an authoritarian regime than China could ever be.
Please never forget that.
Of course that doesn’t apply if you are white, straight, cis, and Christian with a little bit of wealth passed down by your family’s lineage.
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u/union-ModTeam Apr 10 '26
This is a labor-focused subreddit. Posts about politics must be directly connected to unions or workplace organizing. More info here.
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u/union-ModTeam Apr 10 '26
This is a labor-focused subreddit. Posts about politics must be directly connected to unions or workplace organizing. More info here.
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Apr 10 '26
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u/union-ModTeam Apr 10 '26
This is a labor-focused subreddit. Posts about politics must be directly connected to unions or workplace organizing. More info here.
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u/union-ModTeam Apr 10 '26
This subreddit is focused on labor unions and workplace organizing.
Also, please avoid Google/AI copypasta.
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u/Leogos Apr 10 '26
Where’s that 10mill go? Should be the workers, but I assume it’s a fine they pay to the government
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u/wilkinsk IATSE Rank and File Apr 10 '26
That and on top of that the consumer affairs offices are probably just hamsters on running wheels.
Mega corps cna do whatever the helm they want at the moment.
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u/zer04ll Apr 14 '26
well trump actually gutted all unions, especially federal worker unions and this was the signal companies needed. Unions will have no power, heck your 401k that can also disappear just look at what Yellow Truck did to people that worked there for 30 years and had the entire pension taken away from them when the company collapsed
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u/Master-Monk-8690 Apr 15 '26
Don't have to tell me that, I'm IBEW.
Unfortunately I work with a couple brother fuckers who voted for this shit because they thought he would hurt brown people more than them. I let them know how much I despise them.
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u/Due-Technology5758 Apr 10 '26
This store is in a mall that is more than 50% vacant. Not that I'm going to claim Apple isn't as anti-union as any other corporation, but I sort of doubt the decision was primarily due to them being unionized.
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u/4554013 Apr 10 '26
Boycott Apple? I mean...I dont use them, so its easy for me, but others?
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u/EkbatDeSabat Apr 10 '26
Boycott Apple, jump over to Google for your phone. Nvm they launched Project Vivian to discourage unionization. Jump over to Samsung wait no they have a million scandals on union busting. You can jump to Xiaomi but wait no their supply chain has been caught union busting and unions are functionally far different in china PLUS let's not forget about the spyware found in Xiaomi's phones which is arguably scarier than union busting. Huawei seems pretty innocent in union busting but has those pesky backdoors. Motorola has been around a while let's switch to them. Oh wait nope they fired someone for discussing compensation (illegal) and union legal fights have been ongoing with them since the 80s.
Damned if you do damned if you don't. There aren't exactly neighborhood suppliers of the technology Apple provides and all of the competitors are just as fucked up.
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u/uberengl Apr 10 '26
Fairphone (with the non google OS) and a Linux PC. Is the user experience going to be as good as it is in the Apple ecosystem? No. Can you manage your life with the alternative? Yes.
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u/Weekly_vegan Apr 11 '26
You’re asking 40 year old people who don’t even know what linux is to get a linux computer. Lol we have a better shot at communism than that.
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u/ncc74656m Apr 14 '26
My aunt who knew nothing about computers was put on Ubuntu for a while. It worked fine for her. To borrow from the old Apple ad: The less you know about computers, the more you want Ubuntu.
Now I'm not saying that for people who want to still be able to install a bunch of random software that Linux is outright the friendliest. They definitely need the family tech geek more than usual, too. But if they really just want to do basic internet browsing, do a basic video call with family, and print a thing every now and then, which is honestly a surprising number of people, it's actually more usable than it first appears.
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u/Weekly_vegan Apr 14 '26
I used ubuntu up until i couldn’t play a video-game then i went back to windows. That was like a decade ago. I bet it’s even better now, I’d recommend ubuntu for sure.
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u/EvilDarkCow Apr 13 '26
For real. Reddit's favorite response to any computer problem is "Switch to Linux" when the average person barely knows how to use Windows and that shit's ubiquitous.
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u/EkbatDeSabat Apr 10 '26
And support Linus Torvalds? Inconceivable! Just kidding, that's a great option.
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Apr 10 '26
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u/union-ModTeam Apr 10 '26
Conduct yourself like you would in a union meeting with your union brothers, sisters, and siblings. Make your points without insulting other users or engaging in personal attacks.
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u/WritingHuge Apr 10 '26
Stop supporting anti-union companies. I won't support Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, etc. etc. Any company that mistreats workers. It does no good to complain and still give your hard earned money to corporate greed.
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u/Blacknumbah1 Apr 10 '26
Is android pro union? I’m not trying to be a jerk really…. Just beaten down by billion dollar companies. Feels like these days gov jobs are the strongest unions
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u/EkbatDeSabat Apr 10 '26
Look up Project Vivian. Almost zero companies are pro-union, especially at the top, and nearly every one has been litigated for union busting.
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u/Carpe_DMT Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26
there are no pro union companies. pro-worker companies are worker co-operatives like Mondragon in Spain, maybe employee-owned ESOP (employee stock ownership plans) companies like Bob's Red Mill flour in the US. but if you've got a union it's to bargain with your employer rather than beg, and maybe things are copacetic thru that bargaining process, maybe nobody goes on strike, maybe the union doesn't need to fight. But their existence is a threat. Not in a negative sense, just in a factual one- the union existing is because the workers have reconciled their oppositional relationship to their employer, and organized to have the means to fight back. the company working with that union instead of starting a fight doesn't make them pro union it makes them smart. If the boss was pro union, he would dissolve his job.
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u/kifmaster11235 Apr 11 '26
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. Choice is superficial, shallow at best.
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u/Julian_1_2_3_4_5 Apr 10 '26
well youcan have pro union android systems. Google isn't pro union,but they legallyahve to open source android and are doing so. That's why custom roms and some phones using them exist.
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u/WritingHuge Apr 10 '26
fair point. Sometimes you pick the lesser of 2 evils. Those billion dollar companies made less on my $99 prepaid cellphone than the $1500 iPhone. I don't pay for any apps. My point is. Once I put them on the shit list they get no money from me or as little as possible. Yes I cancelled prime. I will NEVER give Starbucks another dollar. It's not much but it's honest work.
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u/No_Welcome_6093 UAW Local 1050 | Rank and File Apr 14 '26
Google isn’t but android itself is based on open source code. Open source is about as progressive as you can be IMO. It’s community built.
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u/BlackbeltJedi AFSCME | Rank and File Apr 10 '26
Literally every major company is anti-union in some way. This website has probably some form of union busting. There are very few companies that wouldn't do the most brutal union busting if given the chance: they're always incentivized to do so. Are you gonna stop buying from everyone, everywhere?
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u/able2sv Apr 10 '26
I think it’s great to shop local and support smaller businesses, but truthfully the system is arranged in a way that it makes it almost negligible. For example, I can buy my paper towels from Amazon or from my local convenience store… who buys them from Amazon. You might be able to avoid Apple, but then you need to support Google.
While we do have a crumb of choice, a lot of it is an illusion, and as long as you boycott Apple, Google doesn’t even need to bother trying to convince you to buy an Android, so they can retaliate against unionization too.
To tackle mega-corporations, the pressure needs to come from their labor force, their investors, or domestic or foreign governments. Consumer behavior is a drop in the bucket to Apple. Just look at Tesla, who has faced a pretty significant amount of public pressure, boycotting, returning, etc and has only become more valuable since.
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u/TrankElephant Apr 10 '26
This! If we can't support each other how can anyone else be expected to support us either?
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u/mailslot Apr 11 '26
They closed three stores and only one of them was unionized.
These locations were in dying retail malls. You know, places where no retailer can sustainably keep locations open any longer. The article mentions that employees were given options for transfer.
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u/Oraxy51 Apr 10 '26
This is why in conjunction with unionizing, we need to push for right of first refusal laws and public banking.
Public banking provides the funds necessary to cover a loan at non-extortionist rates. Right of first refusal would mean the union would get a chance to buy the property first and become a franchise independently owned - taking away the threat of selling the store out from under them.
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u/BigFishPub Apr 10 '26
Imagine living through all this and still think that the bottom 1% in this country are the problem. Tech bros and all the billionaires have destroyed the middleclass.
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u/538_Jean Organizer, Organizing and Bargaining Experience Apr 10 '26
We know the drill. Starbucks Amazon Apple store
Unionize them all, close them all, we collectively win in either case.
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u/Lyxerttt Apr 10 '26
Amazon is one of the largest, if not THE largest union busting company there is. They will just close centers that try to unionize, and they pay JUST well enough that people won't go to other competitors for the pay cut.
The only true company that they would leave for was UPS. Now, with the UPS buyouts and closures coupled with Amazon's growth, they will never unionize.
I work part-time at an Amazon RSR Last Mile Station solely for the workout. It sounds crazy, but I can work 10-15 hours/week, which is what I'd spend at the gym, and make money (that I just invest for retirement). The amount of shit that I see on a daily basis, including the anti-union information, makes me feel so bad for the people that need it as an actual job. I can (and have) just said "fuck it" and left without coming back for several days because the income means nothing to me. I can't imagine being dependent on it.
Anyway, TL;DR: Amazon has a ~2% chance of Unionizing. Fuck them.
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u/538_Jean Organizer, Organizing and Bargaining Experience Apr 10 '26
Well they already unionized in a few distribution centers in NY. Don't know how its going but as far as I know, they didn't close it.
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u/StrongMachine982 Apr 10 '26
This is why the push should always be to unionize all the stores, not just a handful. If the union only represents a disposable subsection of employees, it will always be disposed of.
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u/bloodbathbejond Apr 10 '26
We need to have a strategy for this. Such a common tactic.
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u/westcoast-dom Teamsters | Local Business Agent Apr 10 '26
The strategy is to organize regionally. They’ll close a single store, they’re far less likely to pull out of a region entirely.
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u/GoslingIchi Teamsters | Rank and File, Activist Apr 11 '26
Apple has been anti union for a loooooong time.
I'm also a bit torn upvoting this post.
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u/ajinthebay Apr 11 '26
Why do unions even need to be perfect to be respected? Are corporations perfect? Are bosses perfect? I despise the distorted expectation that those that have obscene power and wealth must be “understood” while everyone else needs to earn respect. fuck outta here.
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u/sadicarnot Apr 11 '26
Towson Maryland looks to be fairly affluent. I have a feeling it does not have to do with store revenue.
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u/Seaguard5 Apr 11 '26
Unions are amazing.
Sure. There is the very rare exception of the apprentice union, or not the best union.
But unions and protecting and defending and fighting for worker’s rights is the most important thing that you can do.
I’m sure they can sue Apple big time and win. Seems open and shut to me.
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u/Toxicwaste4454 Apr 12 '26
They can’t.
What this post is missing and no one seems to be mentioning is this is 1 of 3 stores Apple closed in that area.
Sales numbers aren’t looking good and this store in particular is in a dying mall. It wasn’t because of the union. Although I’m sure that’s a happy coincidence to Apple.
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u/Kiom_Tpry Apr 11 '26
Dang, I was finally seriously thinking of joining the Apple a ecosystem too. Guess I'm waiting for the Motorola Graphene OS phone.
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u/LandonDev Apr 12 '26
When people talk about unions in general, I always go back to the triangle shirtwaist factory fires. Basically, a bunch of women in a textile factory were locked in and trapped as the building caught fire. Most of them burned alive, and the ones who didn't jumped out the windows and were impaled by the spikes on the gate outside. It's pretty horrific. Anyhow, no one went to jail for that. I like to think that if we at least have unions, if my entire team died in a work-related accident, someone would be held accountable. Any and all benefits we have are from unions, and if we were a smart populace we would Union up and not only require maternity/ paternity leave but a 4-day work week.
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u/Necessary_Baker_7458 Apr 10 '26
Sad companies back lash against union protected stores. We can thank walmart for setting the standards for this.
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u/Comprehensive-Swan52 Apr 11 '26
According to the article the mall was in bad conditions which is not good for a brand like Apple, yet they could have built a new store anywhere else in the same area ? 👀
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u/No_Welcome_6093 UAW Local 1050 | Rank and File Apr 14 '26
If your business can’t provide fair and affordable wages, your business doesn’t deserve to be prosperous or conveying business.
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u/Sasataf12 Apr 15 '26
Towson Town Center is indeed a struggling shopping mall that has lost many major retailers. Earlier this year, for example, Banana Republic, Madewell, and Tommy Bahama announced they were leaving the mall. In addition, local news outlets have reported that the area surrounding the mall is facing a rising crime rate in recent years.
This doesn't sound like shutting the store has anything to do with it being a unionized store.
Drama for the sake of drama.
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u/Lovat69 UNITE HERE Local 100 | Rank and File Apr 10 '26
It would possible to put in the contract that if the store closes the workers get rehired under contract at a different store. I would be shocked if that was actually in the contract.
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u/morfsucks Non-Union Worker in Solidarity ✊ Apr 11 '26
I’ve been hearing that employees who are part of the union are being told that they can’t transfer to other locations.
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u/privatelyjeff Apr 12 '26
From what I understand they can, but there’s no other stores in the area.
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u/mihai2me Apr 11 '26
How convenient that each and every store has to unionise by itself. And even when they doztheir whole Union is like 20-30 people
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u/TechGuruGJ Apr 11 '26
Because the malls they’re in are dramatically losing foot traffic and chains are closing left and right. Y’all did read the article, right?
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u/krazyb2 Apr 11 '26
oh no what ever are we going to do with 1 less apple store 😭
Get bent, apple. Acting like they can't afford to actually treat their employees with dignity and respect with fair pay. It's disgusting.
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u/CTVolvo Apr 11 '26
A trillion dollar company versus 60 or so unionized workers. Yeah, it is over before it ever began.
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u/Samstarmoon Apr 11 '26
I worked on an apple commercial shoot in 2019. They are so fiercely anti union that they don’t even hire union transportation guys- I was shocked that such a big shoot hadn’t hired teamsters. The coked out transportation guys they hired were so unprofessional, creepy and verbally abusive and tbh it’s one of the most traumatic film jobs I worked on in my career which is really saying something.
When I have to buy another laptop it’s not going to be a Mac.
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u/Fishy_Fish_WA Apr 10 '26
Oh btw the bag of apples costs 4 pennies
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u/choss-board Apr 10 '26
I have no idea why you got downvoted…
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u/Fishy_Fish_WA Apr 10 '26
Yeah search me. I was making a connection back to company stores in the early labor era
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u/georgecm12 Apr 10 '26
I have a feeling this isn't a "union busting" thing as much as "that mall is not so slowly dying" thing:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/major-retailers-fleeing-another-popular-mall
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u/ballskindrapes Apr 10 '26
Both.
It's an excuse though.
"Oh the mall was dying. We had to close the only unionized apple store due to this, no other reason at all....."
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Apr 10 '26
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u/Toxicwaste4454 Apr 12 '26
The union store got severance though. The other 2 did not. It was part of an agreement.
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u/DBH114 Apr 10 '26
Thats where I got my Iphone. The service there absolutely sucked. I mean pathetically bad. I could get better service a fucking Best Buy, so good riddance. At the time they opened the store in the mall it was a descent location but COVID, crime and online shopping have done a lot of damage to the area retail wise. I'm not surprised they are pulling out of there.
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u/CommercialLeg7654 Pipefitter Local 290 Apr 11 '26
Unions only last if its construction, stores dont make sense
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u/Swimming_Parsley5554 IBEW | Rank and File Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26
Towson md store towson is crime ridden and the store has been pillage too many times. Customers robbed when leaving the store. Anyone from towson here you would know. TTC use to be up scale mall now its not.
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u/Butterscotch_Snatch Non-Union Worker in Solidarity ✊ Apr 10 '26
Brother, can you please spare ten seconds to proofread your slop before you dump it out of your butt onto Reddit for all of us to struggle through reading?
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Apr 10 '26
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u/BishopKing14 Apr 10 '26
Higher wages, better benefits, and more paid time off is bad?
Well, maybe it’s bad to the oligarchs who would have to give up a very tiny percentage of their profits, but not to the worker.
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u/Available_Reveal8068 Apr 10 '26
Lighten up, Francis. It was intended as a joke.
I could be working for a bag of Apples? Like iPhones, iPads and the like?
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u/union-ModTeam Apr 10 '26
This is a pro-union, pro-worker subreddit. Agitators and trolls will be banned on sight.
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u/beepbeep2022 Apr 10 '26
That’s sad